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Takeshi Momoshiro
Takeshi Momoshiro '(桃城 武, Momoshiro Takeshi) is a Seigaku regular. He prefers to go by the name "Momo", instead of his family name "Momoshiro". In the fourth character popularity poll for the series run by Weekly Shonen Jump, Momoshiro came in 9th place. His seiyu for the original anime is Masaya Onosaka, with the English voice actor being Doug Erholtz. Background When he was first introduced in the Prince of Tennis series, he played an unfinished match with Echizen Ryoma (he did this to see the twist serve), though Momoshiro was injured at the time. Later, they become best friends and even doubles partners for once. For a short time, he is cut from the regulars, after losing to Inui and Tezuka during Seigaku's 2nd monthly ranking matches. He takes being cut pretty hard and doesn't show up to practices for three days, leading the first years to think that Momoshiro has quit the club. Instead of going to practice, he spent his time playing street tennis; however, as he plays a match with Tachibana An, a good friend of his, he realizes his flaws as a tennis player and that in order for him to become stronger, he needs to stop underestimating his opponents. It is during this time that Momoshiro's importance to Seigaku as a team is revealed. As the player who is the most open and friendly with everyone, Momoshiro is connected to everyone on the team on some level. And as such, he's one of the few members on the team that everyone seems to care about, which is why his disappearance affects all the regulars in some way. Momoshiro being cut from the team even leads to the temporary break up of the Golden Pair and even Eiji notes how practices are not the same without Momoshiro around. Although Ryoma, in particular, seems unconcerned about Momoshiro being cut from the team, in reality, he is worried about Momoshiro and goes looking for him during lunch period; a moment that reveals both how important Momoshiro's friendship is to Ryoma and how important Momoshiro is to Seigaku. Thus, when Momoshiro returns to practices, all seems right with the team again, although Tezuka punishes him for missing practice by making him run a record high of 100 laps. This is also when Momoshiro as a character is revealed in that Momoshiro doesn't worry about taking himself too seriously and despite being cut from the team, he is determined to support and cheer his teammates on as they face Hyōtei in the Regionals. Yet, Momoshiro ends up having to play a serious part again, almost instantly, when Oishi gets injured and doesn't show up for the match against Hyōtei. Momoshiro's character is further revealed as he shows courage by first attempting to relieve Oishi from the hospital as quickly as possible and then, by being the one to take Oishi's place as Eiji's partner. Up until this point, Momoshiro is still a novice at playing doubles. But in one of Momoshiro's finest moments, he not only helps Eiji win the match against Hyotei, but takes the opportunity to master doubles with Oishi's quickly-given advice. Spectators even said Momoshiro and Eiji playing was like watching the Golden Pair. Momoshiro shows that he is not only one of the most adaptable people in Seigaku, but he's also a player and a friend who always gives 100% and comes through for his teammates. Even Inui has noted that Momoshiro's ability to overcome hurdles is amazing. He then is able to remain as Regular on the team when Tezuka has to leave the team to recuperate from his injury from his match with Hyōtei's Atobe. During the Inter-school ranking tournament, before the National tournament, Momoshiro and Echizen played a singles match to determine who'll be a regular. Unfortunately, after Momoshiro was leading 4-0, Echizen decided to forfeit the game and Momoshiro was angry at him for not taking this match seriously. Eventually, Momoshiro finally realised that Echizen really wanted to take part in the US Open even though Echizen said he would attend the Nationals with the regulars. They then played a friendly singles game, despite Momoshiro losing 6-2, his friendship with Echizen has been the most valuable ever since their first encounter. At the Nationals, Momohsiro's true abilities have been shown, making the Hyotei team surprised by his insight, although he ended up losing in the end. However, within that match, he was shown to be a great and formidable player of Seigaku, and was instrumental in defeating the Comedy Doubles pair of Shitenhōji. After the Nationals, where Seigaku ended up as victorious, Momo and the rest of the Seigaku team (even Echizen, who was at America at the moment) was invited to the U-17 selection camp, along with several other middle-schoolers. He ended up playing in a Shuffle match against the "demon" of court 5, Oni Juujirou. He lost a crushing 0-6 defeat, but ended up gaining an experience about the strength of the U-17 camp. Personality Momoshiro is known as Seigaku’s number one rascal. He really wants to be liked by everyone, which is evident by his preference to be called "Momo-chan," even by the freshmen. As a compromise, some of the freshman call him "Momo-chan-senpai" while the third years call him by "Momo." Momoshiro is an aggressive baseliner. Momoshiro's signature move is the "Dunk Smash," a very powerful response to lobs as he leaps several feet into the air, which he likes to finish off saying, "Don," upon landing. He later develops the "Jack Knife," a strong backhand shot. As Momoshiro is the closest to a true friend Ryoma can claim, the two spend much time together eating hamburgers or playing street tennis. Unlike Ryoma, who is absolutely clueless as a doubles player, Momoshiro develops an affinity for playing doubles and even masters it, despite expressing a preference for singles. Tezuka Kunimitsu, arguably one of the best tennis players in the middle-school circuit, has commented that when Momoshiro realizes his true potential as a tennis player, he'll be an extremely formidable and troublesome opponent. Momoshiro has formed several rivals in the series, with and Kaidō Kaoru are eternal rivals, and constantly try to out-do each other. Surprisingly enough, this makes them efficient as a doubles pair, because the two rivals know each other so well. In Genius 379, the last chapter of the manga, Momoshiro is seen as a third year and the new vice-captain of Seigaku, with Kaidō as his captain. Their rivalry has, apparently, somewhat mellowed with time. Tennis Style and Techniques Momoshiro is an aggressive baseliner, mostly using his power to take control of the game. However, Momoshiro develops an affinity for playing doubles and even masters it, despite expressing a preference for singles. Momoshiro is good at "faking out" his opponents, and can be extremely sly and tricky on the courts. His ability to read the opponent's movements and to observe their viewpoints and expression allow Momoshiro to read his opponent, thus he is able to guess where the ball will go and use shots that will confuse his opponents. ;Dunk Smash :Momoshiro's signature move to finish off lobs; however, Momoshiro's Dunk Smash is different than normal smashes in that he uses the momentum from running to hit the smash, through perfect timing, by jumping forward, instead of the usual jumping backwards to hit a smash; thus causing Momoshiro's Dunk Smash to be twice as powerful and more effective than a normal smash. :Also, Momoshiro can do a Dunk Volley, where if his opponents predict a Dunk Smash, he can do a fake volley to confuse his opponents. :Similar to the "Dunk Smash"; however, "Super Dunk" is unique in that Momoshiro uses his strength to delay the timing of the ball's bounce after it has hit the ground, thus making predicting when the ball will bounce off the ground difficult. Momoshiro developed this shot during a practice match with Gakuto Mukahi of Hyōtei Academy. The name was changed from "Super Great Momoshiro Special" to "Super Dunk" because many complained about the former being so long and tacky. ;Bullet Serve :A fast and powerful serve Momoshiro likes to use. However, other than that, it's a normal serve when compared to other characters. ;Jack Knife :The Jack Knife is a fast, sharp and powerful high-leveled backhand shot made by using the front foot to jump into the air with balance while utilizing the weight of the body to achieve maximum strength. When Momoshiro uses the Jack Knife, he keeps the ball at his racket until the last moment to make it a strong shot. He uses this move to win his match against Yamabuki's Sengoku. :It is noted in the anime that the Jack Knife is a move no ordinary junior high student can do, only professionals are able to use the move successfully, which makes Momoshiro especially formidable as he can use it. Even Atobe of Hyōtei was taken by surprise. :It is shown that he started to adjust his backhand to this shot during a practice match with his captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu. ;Tornado Snake :One of the signature shots of his rival, Kaidō Kaoru, Momoshiro uses this shot during his and Kaidō's match against Hitōji and Konjiki of Shitenhōji, in order to cause them to think he and Kaidō have switched places (they were wearing masks at the time). A slice shot hit at a 45 degree angle to create a gyro spin, Momoshiro was also able to fake out the opponent by disguising this technique as the Dunk Smash. ;Insight :Prior to the Nationals tournament, Insight is a skill Momoshiro unearths during his training in the mountains. While Atobe's Insight is able to see through his opponent, Momoshiro's Insight is more nature-based, as he is able to sense the subtle changes in the atmosphere around him and use it to his advantage. Unfortunately, Oshitari figures out and covers his weak spots against Momoshiro. ;Prediction :During his match with the Kurobane/Amane pair of Rokkaku in Doubles 2, Momoshiro was able to predict his opponent's moves and where the ball was going to land. He was able to recognize the ball was going to be out when they were playing for match point thus ultimately winning the match for Seigaku. That was shown during his match against Oshitari Yūshi. While playing Oshitari, Momoshiro gives up his "Prediction" style of playing and returns to his previous tenacious play style by playing at 100% power and re-integrating his "Jack Knife" shot. Tennis Performance and Timeline *'NOTE-1 Momoshiro (accidentally) knocked out Yanagisawa with a Dunk Smash that was hit off a slice lob, which caused the ball to change course and gave the Momo/Kaido pair the win, although Momo (tried to) protest. *'NOTE-2' The match against Midoriyama only took place in the manga, while Josei Shonan's match existed only in the anime. *'NOTE-3' In the manga, the Momo/Kaido pair lost with the score of 1-6, while they lost in the anime with the score of 5-7. *'NOTE-4' In the manga, the Momo/Kaido pair won with the score of 7-6 (unknown tiebreaker score), while they won in the anime with the score of 7-5. Trivia *Momoshiro's favorite shoes happen to be a PUMA (ASPIRATION PT0631 0020). Momoshiro also uses a Mizuno (PROLIGHT P10 Ti Hyper) racquet. *Known relatives of Momo happens to be: his father, mother, younger brother, and younger sister. His younger sister appeared once in the manga, and commented about the design of the Seigaku headbands Momo created (negatively). His father is also an office worker. *Momo's favorite foods are Shrimp Cutlet Burger and Very Berry Coco Parfait. He seems to eat hamburgers several times in the anime, usually with Ryoma and Eiji, and is mentioned to do the same in the manga. *Momo's hobbies are listening to music and playing sensory games. His favorite subject and color is math and red, respectively. Category:Characters Category:Seigaku Tennis Club Member Category:Tennis Player